How do you earn the trust of someone you’ve just met? It’s a question salespeople have been asking for ages. One way is though product knowledge. If you deliver product knowledge with conviction and deep belief, you’re likely to earn customer trust. Even if the information is wrong, if well delivered, it can come off as believable. This approach is rooted in “learning.” Teachers are trusted, salespeople are not. Salespeople are viewed as trying to make a buck. Off you. When I am in a selling situation and I hear words come out of my mouth that sound like selling, I know I’m toast. Hell, I wouldn’t buy from me. 

Another way to earn trust is through humor. I know, I know, the two seem strange bedfellows. But humor creates and accelerates likability which is a precursor to trust. Humor doesn’t set the hook, but it puts the hook right in front of the customer’s mouth. Humor is a positive psychosocial phenomenon and does not evoke fight or flight.

A salesperson with a good measure of humor capped off by strong product knowledge is in a good position to facilitate commerce. Notice I didn’t say sell. Hee hee.

Peace.